Emerald Ash Borer is a Threat to Kansas Ash Trees

The emerald ash borer is a pest of ash trees native to Asia. It was first discovered in North America in 2002 in the Detroit, Michigan, area. Since then, it has killed millions of ash trees and caused thousands more to be removed to slow its spread.

Wyandotte County EAB Find Background - On July 20, 2012, emerald ash borer was found in Parkville, Missouri, four miles from the Wyandotte County line. Then on August 29, 2012, the first-ever presence of emerald ash borer in Kansas was confirmed in Wyandotte County at Wyandotte County Lake. The discovery was made by Kansas Department of Agriculture and USDA staff during a survey being conducted as a result of the July 2012 confirmation of emerald ash borer in Platte County, Missouri. The staff identified a tree during the visual survey that showed symptoms of the emerald ash borer. They removed a portion of the tree and sent it to a USDA lab in Michigan for further analysis. Regulatory officials at USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's Plant Protection Quarantine (USDA-APHIS-PPQ) division removed larva from the sample and confirmed the presence of emerald ash borer.

The initial emergency quarantine was effective August 29, 2012, for Wyandotte County and became permanent November 9, 2012, and will be in effect until it is rescinded or modified by the order of the Kansas Secretary of Agriculture.

Johnson County EAB Find Background - On July 5, 2013, an adult specimen was removed from an emerald ash borer survey trap located near the Johnson County landfill, during routine monitoring by USDA-APHIS-PPQ. Immediately after confirmation by USDA, Kansas enacted an emergency intrastate quarantine for Johnson County, effective July 15, which became permanent September 24, 2013, and will be in effect until it is rescinded or modified by the order of the Kansas Secretary of Agriculture.

Leavenworth County EAB Find Background - On July 16, 2014, an adult emerald ash borer was caught on a girdled tree trap placed on K-5 southeast of Lansing by the Kansas Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Kansas Forest Service. A second emerald ash borer was also caught on a second girdled trap tree at Kenneth W. Bernard Community Park by KDA in cooperation with the City of Lansing and the KFS. Regulatory officials with the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA-APHIS-PPQ) confirmed the presence of emerald ash borer on July 17, 2014.

Douglas County EAB Find Background - On September 30, 2015, six emerald ash borer larva were found when a girdled trap tree was peeled at the old elementary school at Elm Street and 14th St. in Eudora by the Kansas Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the city of Eudora. Regulatory officials with the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA-APHIS-PPQ) confirmed the presence of emerald ash borer on October 8, 2015.

Jefferson County EAB Find Background - On October 21, 2015, seven emerald ash borer larva were found when a girdled trap tree was peeled at Perry Lake below the dam by the Kansas Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Corp of Engineers and the Kansas Forest Service. Regulatory officials with the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA-APHIS-PPQ) confirmed the presence of emerald ash borer on October 27, 2015.

Atchison County EAB Find Background - USDA is contracting out trapping. On September 19, 2016 a suspect EAB specimen was removed from a trap in the Cummings township area in Atchison County. USDA positively identified EAB on September 23.

Doniphan County EAB Find Background - On March 31, 2017, EAB larvae were removed from an ash tree in a native stand of timber in rural Doniphan County near the town of Bendena, KS by the Kansas Forest Service and the Kansas Department of Agricultural staff. Regulatory officials with USDA-APHIS-PPQ confirmed the presence of EAB on April 4, 2017.

Shawnee County EAB Find Background - On June 6, 2017, several EAB galleries were observed and a live EAB adult was removed while peeling bark from a tree, after KDA was notified by an arborist. The suspect tree was identified while the arborist was trimming branches for a home owner in a residential area near Lake Shawnee. KDA sent the specimen to a laboratory with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA-APHIS-PPQ) which confirmed KDA’s findings on June 7, 2017.

The current Kansas emergency intrastate quarantine includes Atchison, Douglas, Jefferson, Johnson, Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties to slow the spread of EAB in Kansas. Doniphan is under a temporary quarantine until added to the permanent quarantine.

The quarantine applies to any corporation, company, society, association, partnership, governmental agency, and any individual or combination of individuals. It prohibits movement of regulated items from the quarantined area, except under specific conditions established in the Permanent Emerald Ash Borer Quarantine
- for Atchison, Doniphan, Douglas, Jefferson, Johnson, Leavenworth, and Wyandotte counties

Regulated items under quarantine include the following:

The emerald ash borer, (Agrilus planipennis [Coleoptera: Buprestidae]), in any living stage of development;

Firewood of all hardwood (non-coniferous) species;

Nursery stock of the genus Fraxinus (Ash);

Green lumber of the genus Fraxinus (Ash);

Other material living, dead, cut, or fallen, including logs, stumps, roots, branches, and composted and uncomposted chips of the genus Fraxinus (Ash);

Any other article, product, or means of conveyance that an inspector determines presents a risk of spreading emerald ash borer and notifies the person in possession of the article, product, or means of conveyance that it is subject to the restrictions of the regulations.

All ash trees native to Kansas are susceptible to infestation by the emerald ash borer. Trees become infested when adult beetles lay eggs on the bark. The eggs hatch into larvae that bore into the tree. They tunnel between the bark and wood and disrupt water and nutrient movement, eventually killing the tree. Emerald ash borer appears to prefer trees under stress, but is capable of killing perfectly healthy trees.

Emerald ash borer is responsible for killing or damaging 20 million ash trees in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Ontario, Canada. Financially, the United States risks an economic loss of $20 billion to $60 billion because of this pest. A complete devastation of ash trees could seriously affect our ecosystem.

Without government action and cooperation from the public, firewood dealers, arborists and the nursery industry, emerald ash borer will be introduced in Kansas. Preventing its introduction is far more cost-effective than trying to contain it as an established pest.

Kansas Emerald Ash Borer Frequently Asked Questions

Do I Have Emerald Ash Borer?

Public Meeting Information

Information will be posted here as meetings are scheduled with public, industry, and other stakeholders to discuss the impacts of the Emerald Ash Borer.

What We Are Doing to Protect Kansas Ash Trees

Kansas has an Emerald Ash Borer Readiness and Response Plan that involves many agencies and organizations. The plan outlines what each organization does in Kansas when a new infested county is found. You can read the response plan at: KS Emerald Ash Borer Response Plan revision 2-12-10

The Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) and USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service have been helping with a national survey for emerald ash borer since 2008 by putting out emerald ash borer traps in Kansas. Each agency hung purple prism traps at locations across the state. The traps remained in place from March/April to August/September. As of 2016, USDA has contracted out the purple prism trapping.

KDA has been girdling trees since the find in 2013 in Wyandotte County. Trees are girdled in non-quarantine counties adjacent to quarantine counties in the spring and removed and peeled in the fall to look for larva.

We also respond to citizen inquiries if they suspect they might have emerald ash borer. We will continue our effort to keep surveillance of areas of concern and other high risk areas in Kansas.

2013:
USDA and KDA set traps in March, 2013 and these traps were up until August, 2013. Sixty-five traps were placed by KDA in 9 counties – Butler, Jewell, Leavenworth, Neosho, Osborne, Pottawatomie, Russell, Smith and Shawnee. There were 375 traps placed by USDA for the rest of the state. No emerald ash borer were found on traps.

In April, 2013, 7 girdled trap trees were set in Leavenworth, Wyandotte and Johnson counties. The Kansas Forest Service, Kansas Department of Agriculture, USDA and K-State Research and Extension cooperated to implement the girdled trap tree survey. When the trees were removed 2 trees in Wyandotte county had emerald ash borer larvae present. This was expected because these were trees in areas that we had found adults previously on traps. The girdled trees are another tool to help detect emerald ash borer in areas that it is not known to be.

2014:USDA and KDA set traps in March/April, 2014 and these traps were up until August, 2014. Eighty traps were placed by KDA in 7 counties – Barton, Bourbon, Douglas, Ellsworth, Leavenworth, Marion and Osage. The majority of the traps, 313, were set by USDA in 58 counties in the rest of the state. Also 10 girdled trap trees were set around the Kansas City Metro area in Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties. No emerald ash borer was found on traps but was found on girdled trees in Leavenworth county after which the county became quarantined.

Purple prism trapping is now being contracted out by USDA. Questions regarding trapping should go to the USDA office in Topeka - 785-228-6550.

You Can Help

Since the emerald ash border's initial introduction into the United States, it has been spread to many areas of the country by campers and homeowners who unknowingly moved infested firewood to uninfested areas where the beetles emerged and infested new ash trees.

You can help slow the spread of the emerald ash borer into Kansas by not moving firewood across county lines. When buying wood for your home, buy only locally grown and harvested firewood. When camping, buy your firewood near your destination and burn all that you bring.

Emerald ash borer educational materials, including ID cards and brochures, are available through the Kansas Department of Agriculture's Plant Protection and Weed Control program. Call us at (785) 564-6698.

Calls us, too, if you think you may have found symptoms of an emerald ash borer infestation in non-quarantine counties in Kansas. If you suspect emerald ash borer symptoms on trees in quarantine counties, please call you county extension agent.